Movies: Past, present and future

Johnny Depp, Natalie Portman sign on for McCartney's 'My Valentine'

May 24, 2012 | 2:17pm

If you have ever wanted to see Natalie Portman and Johnny Depp use their vast knowledge of sign language, now's your chance. Seems Paul McCartney has partnered with the two A-listers to translate the lyrics of his jazzy tune "My Valentine" for the hard-of-hearing crowd. McCartney's film, in which Portman and Depp appear via split screen and sign the lyrics in black-and-white, was first shown at a star-studded gala in Los Angeles.

Now the Weinstein Co. has announced that it will screen McCartney's video ahead of "The Intouchables," which opens Friday in Los Angeles and New York.

Since it's a short film, it will not replace either of the trailers the company has attached to the French comedy, which has grossed over $340 million overseas. Rather, Weinstein will request that the theater owners play the film before the feature starts. The movie is about a quadriplegic, white Parisian millionaire who hires a black Senegalese troublemaker as his attendant.

Since neither the millionaire nor the attendant is deaf, we're not quite sure what "My Valentine" has to do with "The Intouchables," but it does seem to help that Harvey Weinstein is pals with the former Beatle. The two got to know each other when Weinstein produced the 9/11 concert for New York and McCartney was the first musician to volunteer to perform.

Both films do run toward the saccharine — perhaps that's the common thread that united them in Weinstein's eyes.